Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

International Fin Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an error from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second try as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second and Northampton's third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team notched three tries in five minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament resumes in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host Bristol Bears in their next outing before an away trip face Pau.

Line-ups

Northampton: Furbank; Sleightholme, Hutchinson, Dingwall, Hendy; F Smith, Mitchell; Fischetti, Wright, Davison, Coles, Van der Mescht, Kemeny, Pearson, Pollock

Replacements: R Smith, Iyogun, Kundiona, Munga, Prowse, Graham, James, Thame

Bulls: Williams; Petersen, Gans, Vorster, Jacobs; Wolhuter, Burger; Tshakweni, Van der Merwe, Smith, Wiese, Van Heerden, Coetzee, Ludwig, Louw

Replacements: Else, Sithole, Mchunu, Gumede, Carr, Papier, Johannes, Van Niekerk

Yellow card: Tshakweni (53)

Match Officials

Referee: Hollie Davidson (Sco)

Assistant referees: Rob McDowell (Sco) and Dave Sutherland (Sco)

TMO: Mike Adamson (Sco)